About Mailing Server...

[Hisumi]

I am planning to setup a email server:
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The procedures I THINK I should go through is:

1) buy a domain (such as: @mydomain.com)
2) setup accounts on my domain (such as: account1@mydomain.com, account2@mydomain.com and so on)

is it correct? or do I need other things?
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About the second procedure that I listed above, do I need special softwares or whatever to add new email accounts to the domain? or do I have to go to my domain server everytime and add in the accounts?

Also, what do I need to setup the mailing server after I bought the domain? and how to manage it after?



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Thanks in advance,
- Hisumi -

 

[n0cmonkey]

Do you have a mail server daemon chosen? What are you using for smtp? Do you run your own dns server? Remember to add the MX record for your mail server.

 

[Hisumi]

Thanks for replying.

1) No I haven't choose a mail server daemon. Do you have recommendations?

2) I am not sure about smtp. I do not have much background about it. Where can I check for it and what do i do with it?

3) I am buying the mail server.

4) What is the MX record?

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Thanks for replying.

1) No I haven't choose a mail server daemon. Do you have recommendations? >>



I like qmail. Postfix is supposed to be pretty good too. Those are both UNIX daemons though



<< 2) I am not sure about smtp. I do not have much background about it. Where can I check for it and what do i do with it? >>



I am sure there is an RFC out there. SMTP is the simple mail transfer protocol. It is the protocol used to send mail.



<< 3) I am buying the mail server. >>



You may want to look into letting someone else host the mail server unless you really want to learn this stuff.



<< 4) What is the MX record? >>



An MX record is the record in the dns server for mail. ie, mail.yourdomain.com is the domain part of the MX record. There is a corresponding IP to it. That is most of the information in the DNS server. If you are letting someone else take care of the dns server just tell them that is your only mail host, and the hostname.domain.com for your MX record.

 

[Poontos]

Especially when your lack of knowledge at this point is the main ingredient for a lacking (security wise) mail
server, which usually becomes a spammers paradise, and then a headache for admins and their users.

No offense, but that's just the way it works.

I would go with nocmonkey's suggestion -- allow a knowledgable and experienced hosting company to host
your mail.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Especially when your lack of knowledge at this point is the main ingredient for a lacking (security wise) mail
server, which usually becomes a spammers paradise, and then a headache for admins and their users.

No offense, but that's just the way it works.

I would go with nocmonkey's suggestion -- allow a knowledgable and experienced hosting company to host
your mail. >>



Or spend a LOT of time reading and testing before you do something of this magnitude. This is not a small task. If you are willing to read up on it and test it for a month or two before deploying, go for it.

EDIT: One book I like on this is something like "Running Qmail". Its a Sams book so it shouldnt behard to find

 

[Hisumi]

1) Do you know any other daemons that are not UNIX? (practically I know nothing about UNIX...)

2) Is the RFC some kind of program that use SMTP? What does it stands for?

3) So you are recommending to let someone host the mail server? like the Yahoo egroups? So what if I am buying my own mail server and setting it up myself, do I just get the daemons and follow instructions there to set it up? or there are protocols or specifications that I need to know to set it up?

4) So if I have the domain myself, is there somewhere in the daemon to add the MX record? or..?

Sorry about all these questions. But I want to learn how to setup my own mail server. And I could not find much articles about the proper way/steps to setup a mail server, so I decided to try posting a thread in this forum and hopefully I can learn something from it. Really appreciate your help n0cmonkey.

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Thanks again,
- Hisumi -

 

[Poontos]

1.) Are you planning on hosting the mail server from your house? If so, what type of internet connection do you have? Do you have a Cable/DSL router?

2.) Non-Unix, will most likely cost a lot of mulla! Like a Win2K or NT 4.0 server running MS exchange will cost you somewhere around four digits.

3.) Do you already have a computer ready to be loaded up as a mail server?

4.) How reliable is your 'Net connection? Cause your mail is just going to get bounced if your connection is down or the server is off, since your mail is pointed directly to your computer.

5.) The problem with having the MX record pointing to a server in your network at home, is the fact that most people have a dynamic IP, and therefore have setup virtual DNS stuff. It just gets VERY complex. Not to mention forwarding the ports, etc., if you have a router/firewall.

6.) Assuming this is just a personal domain for personal e-mail and stuff... it would be much easier to let Verio or Worldcom host your site. There are lots of top 100 hosting company lists out there, but I don`t have time to find them.

Verio.com

WorldCom.com

As I say, there are 1000's of hosting companies. These two come to mind, cause they some of the larger ones out there.


Good luck!

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< 1) Do you know any other daemons that are not UNIX? (practically I know nothing about UNIX...) >>



I know nothing (or almost nothing) about Windows. Google for "mail server for Windows" or something.



<< 2) Is the RFC some kind of program that use SMTP? What does it stands for? >>



RFC= Request For Comment. It is a technical paper on different subjects. One is on SMTP (atleast 1). It will give you more than enough information about the protocol. But it may not be exactly helpful for just implimentation.



<< 3) So you are recommending to let someone host the mail server? like the Yahoo egroups? So what if I am buying my own mail server and setting it up myself, do I just get the daemons and follow instructions there to set it up? or there are protocols or specifications that I need to know to set it up? >>



Well, if you buy the box and software they should have instructions on how to set it up. After you go through that, search the web/usenet for tips on security.



<< 4) So if I have the domain myself, is there somewhere in the daemon to add the MX record? or..? >>



If you setup the Domain Name Server yourself (again, bad idea if you dont know what you are doing) you should know how to setup an MX record. Just check the documentation.



<< Sorry about all these questions. But I want to learn how to setup my own mail server. And I could not find much articles about the proper way/steps to setup a mail server, so I decided to try posting a thread in this forum and hopefully I can learn something from it. Really appreciate your help n0cmonkey. >>



Not a problem. Just realize that an email server is a LOT of work. DNS, smtpd, httpd, and ftpd are the 4 most cracked daemons out there. So you will have to keep up on security. It will not be easy, you will not sleep well, and your eyes will hurt from reading sooooo much documentation if you want to do this right. But it could all be worth it. And definitely check out Poontos' post below yours (above this one), it has some good questions and whatnot.

 

[Hisumi]

Oh i see, seems so complicated. I guess I have to grab some books to read about it.

No I am not setting it up at home, it's for a BIG group, like 1200+ people. If I use the existing servers that are prodived by Yahoo!, for example, I don't think they can manage such a big database and It'll be really difficult for me to add or remove things (restricted settings)

So I guess it is still recommended to use Exchange Server or something and set up my own mailing server?


PS.
Thanks to those who are giving me all these helps.

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- Hisumi -

 

[goldboyd]

The Running qmail book that noc recommended has a very good introduction to email, and dns and pretty much everything you need to know in the first couple chapters. Even if you don't go with qmail, it would definately be worth it to read the first few chapters.